After Hours with The Convict

Prologue

Omniscient

"Bitch get out there! Get yo ass out there, I don't know what the fuck you thought this was!" Tears of both dread and despair streamed down Freedom's flushed rosy cheeks as the savage behind the gun pushed her out onto the front porch where she landed on her ass trying to get herself together. He squatted down to her level still pressing the thirty-eight to the side of her forehead while looking around the dark dirty street in which they resided, "You wanna wake up tomorrow?" He asked through rotted and gritted teeth but Freedom was way too frozen to answer.
In her head she was praying, asking God what she had done to deserve a life like this. God hated her she knew it for sure and all she wanted to know was why. Freedom's ears opened up when she heard the safety click off on the gun and she breathed heavily, "I said... do... you wanna... wake up tomorrow? What?!" He barked, tapping the gun against her skull with each phrase leaving his feculent mouth and Freedom nodded her head profusely answering, "Yes... yes!" all the while still choking on her own tears.

The man behind the gun took hold of the straps to the skimpy little lime green body-con dress that clad Freedoms well-developed body pulling her up and pushing her down the steps still waving the gun at Freedom as if she was a moving target, "Then get down on that fuckin Ave and get my money before I blow your fuckin head off your shoulders into the street!" He barked once again and Freedom scurried around the corner wiping the saltiest tears from her face while attempting to calm herself down. "Hey Freedom, where you off to?" She looked up from the cracked pavement to see Johnson, her most loyal and well to be frank her only friend coming from the opposite direction with a basketball tucked under his arm.

Swiftly, she took the denim jacket she had tied around her waist and put it over her shoulders just as they came to a meeting point, "I'm about to meet a friend." Johnson raised one brow, "A friend, huh?" Freedom nodded as her eyes fell to the ground again, "Yeah. I'll catch up witchu later, ight? I can't be late."

Attempting to walk past Johnson her shoulder brushed against his as he grabbed her wrist to stop her, "Be safe ight?" Freedom nodded, waiting for him to let her go and eventually he did but not before giving her one last once over and they both continued on their separate paths.

Freedom couldn't fool Johnson. He didn't know exactly what it was that he'd always catch her running off to, but he knew whatever it was always turned her spirit upside down afterward. So he always prayed for her in hopes that one day maybe God would pull her out of it. Even if she was unsure of her own faith in Him, Johnson had enough faith for the both of them.

It took almost twenty minutes for Freedom to make it to 40th & Bridges but when she got there she spotted that midnight blue Chevy almost immediately and she knew already the drubbing that she was in for. Her heartbeat hastened seeing the car's headlight's flash twice and she looked the other way as if she hadn't noticed.

A few minutes passed and without thinking she looked towards the blue Chevy to see the man in the driver's seat wave his arm out of the window signaling for her to cross the street as he flashed the headlights twice simultaneously. She decided to suck it up before she made it any worse for herself and cross the street. Standing on the driver's side, she looked at the man who had held a gun to her head less than an hour ago, "Yes?" she inquired quietly.

"Get in." He said sternly rolling his window up. Freedom walked around getting in the passenger's seat and just as she shut the door his fist flew across her cheek, knocking her head against the window. "Fuck took you so long to get here, huh?! And why you over there just standing?! DO SOME FUCKIN WORK!"